Williams calls crisis meeting to avoid split over gay bishop
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
(Filed: 09/08/2003)

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, yesterday convened an unprecedented crisis meeting of Anglican primates following the decision by the American Episcopal Church to endorse an openly active homosexual as a bishop.

Evangelical and traditionalist Church leaders, including primates in Africa and Asia, have denounced the ratification of the appointment of Canon Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.

Dr Williams said the meeting would take place in London in mid-October and that invitations would be sent out next week.

He will be inviting all the primates, who head the Communion's 38 provinces, including the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev Frank Griswold.

"I am clear that the anxieties caused by recent developments have reached the point where we will need to sit down and discuss their consequences," said Dr Williams.

"I hope that in our deliberations we will find that there are ways forward in this situation which can preserve our respect for one another and for the bonds that unite us. I hope we can use the time between now and then to reflect, to pray, to consult and to take counsel." By calling a meeting so quickly, Dr Williams has surprised Church leaders.

It signals his determination, following his role in prompting Canon Jeffrey John to step down as Bishop of Reading, to remain in control of the situation.

The development was met with mixed reactions in the Church of England. The Rev David Philips, the general secretary of the ultra-conservative Church Society, said the time for talking was over.

"The assumption seems to be that we can somehow keep the Communion together and preserve unity just by getting together and talking about it. It is just nonsense," he said.

The Rev Richard Kirker, the general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Movement, who is organising a conference on homosexuality in October at which Bishop-elect Robinson will speak, was also sceptical.

"None of the existing primates are themselves gay," he said. "They may be closet homosexuals but they are not to be relied upon. We would expect gay Christians to be at the table, otherwise it is a meeting to discuss 'them out there'."

The conservative primates are not only furious about Bishop-elect Robinson, who has lived with his male lover for more than a decade, they also want to know why the Episcopal Church approved a resolution at its General Convention in Minneapolis this week recognising that same sex blessings were acceptable, at least at a local level.

While Dr Williams has little more than moral authority, he can expel an individual province from the Communion by declaring that he is no longer "in communion" with it.

He will be very reluctant to take such a drastic step, even though he has clearly warned individual provinces that they will face the consequences if they introduce innovations unacceptable elsewhere.

A slightly less dramatic option would be the creation of a parallel non-geographical jurisdiction for conservatives, into which individual parishes or dioceses could opt. This would create massive practical problems about how to divide up church property.

Dr Williams also might attempt to persuade the Episcopal Church to introduce a "flying bishops" scheme to minister to conservative parishes, similar to that in the Church of England for opponents of women priests.

Many liberals remain convinced that the threats by the conservative wing of the Church will fade away over time.

They point out that similarly apocalyptic rhetoric preceded the decision to proceed with the ordination of women but the Communion survived intact.

4 August 2003: Gay bishop confirmed in US as traditionalists are defied

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